Waseda University Oratorical Society

The Waseda University Oratorical Society (Japanese: 早稲田大学雄弁会, Hepburn: Waseda Daigaku Yūbenkai; historical orthography: 早稻田大學雄辨會) is a student debate and oratory club of Waseda University, established in 1902. Because many of its alumni have become politicians or journalists, it is often regarded as a training ground for politicians. Five of its alumni have served as Prime Minister of Japan. Officially it is not a networking organisation exclusively for aspiring politicians, and many Waseda-educated politicians were never members of the society.

History

  • 1884 – The predecessor organisation "Dōkōkai" (同攻會) was formed amid student activism related to the Ashio Copper Mine mineral poisoning incident.
  • 1902 – The Waseda University Oratorical Society was founded. University founder Shigenobu Ōkuma became its first president (sōsai). Sanae Takata served as adviser and Professor Isoo Abe as chairman.
  • 1923 – The society forced the dissolution of the Waseda University Military Research Group (members including Inejirō Asanuma, Takeshi Tokano and Ryūichi Inamura were active in the campaign).
  • 1929 – The society ceased to exist after the position of chairman fell vacant.[1]
  • 1945 – A Student Oratorical Society and a Debate Club were formed.[2]
  • 1946 – The Student Oratorical Society and the Debate Club merged and the Waseda University Oratorical Society was re-established.[2]

Achievements

Notable alumni

Former Prime Ministers

Politicians and former Diet members active before or after the war

  • Naoe Kinoshita (activist on the Ashio Copper Mine issue and socialist)
  • Bukichi Miki (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Ikuo Ōyama (former member of the House of Representatives; former chairman of the Oratorical Society)
  • Kōzō Makiyama (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Kenzō Matsumura (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry)
  • Jōichi Yamamichi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Toyokichi Tabuchi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Masahira Hisa (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Akira Kazami (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Justice)
  • Junzō Sasamori (former member of the House of Representatives; former president of Aoyama Gakuin)
  • Hyōgorō Sakurai (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of State)
  • Tane’o Miyazawa (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Hiroshi Awayama (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Riichi Yamamori (former member of the House of Representatives; former mayor of Kureha Town)
  • Jintarō Taketani (former member of the House of Representatives; former speaker of the Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly)
  • Shinji Tagaya (former Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives; former Secretary-General of the Japan Socialist Party)
  • Naomichi Inada (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Mosaburō Suzuki (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Takejirō Nishioka (former member of the House of Representatives; former Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture)
  • Kyōhei Horikawa (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Kunio Morishita (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Sannojō Nakamura (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Transport)
  • Enzaburō Takahashi (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry)
  • Haruji Tahara (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Isamu Murakami (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications)
  • Ryūichi Inamura (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Seion Kawamata (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Takeo Noda (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Home Affairs)
  • Rikizō Hirano (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry)
  • Tokuya Furihata (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Takao Nishida (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Takashi Naitō (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Ryōto Inatomi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Inejirō Asanuma (former member of the House of Representatives; former Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party)
  • Seigō Nakano (former member of the House of Representatives; journalist)
  • Ryūtarō Nagai (former Minister of Communications)
  • Yasujirō Tsutsumi (former Speaker of the House of Representatives; businessman)
  • Takashi Fukaya (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of International Trade and Industry)
  • Taketora Ogata (former member of the House of Representatives; former Deputy Prime Minister)
  • Hiroshi Mitsuzuka (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance)
  • Tokuichirō Tamazawa (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
  • Takao Fujinami (former member of the House of Representatives; former Chief Cabinet Secretary)
  • Hirohide Ishida (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Transport)
  • Mitsuru Matsunaga (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance)
  • Kenzō Matsumura (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Education)
  • Tomisaburō Hashimoto (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Transport)
  • Kanjirō Satō (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Kanju Satō (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Home Affairs)
  • Takao Saitō (former member of the House of Representatives; former President of the Administrative Management Agency)
  • Shizuma Kojima (former member of the House of Councillors)
  • Tadashi Senda (former member of the House of Councillors; former Governor of Iwate Prefecture)
  • Shōichi Miyake (former Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives)
  • Fukujirō Kikuchi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Kōichi Nakamura (former Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives)
  • Sanji Mutō (former member of the House of Representatives; former Chairman of the Japan Socialist Party Diet Members’ Caucus)
  • Masamichi Takatsu (former Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives)
  • Sōichirō Kita (former Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee)
  • Seizen Kanai (former member of the House of Councillors; former Deputy Policy Research Council Chairman of the New Conservative Party)
  • Mikio Aoki (former member of the House of Councillors; former Chief Cabinet Secretary)
  • Takeo Nishioka (former President of the House of Councillors)
  • Kōzō Watanabe (former Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives)
  • Osamu Yoshida (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Toshiaki Koizumi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Yoshinobu Achiwa (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Ryōji Yamada (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Hiroyuki Arai (former member of the House of Councillors; former Special Advisor to the Cabinet)
  • Yūji Yamamoto (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
  • Jun Azumi (former member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance)
  • Jin Matsubara (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Hiroshi Kawauchi (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Hideo Tezuka (former member of the House of Representatives)
  • Gen Yatagawa (former member of the House of Representatives)

Current members of the House of Representatives

(Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times elected to the House of Representatives.)

  • Fukushirō Nukaga (79th and 80th Speaker of the House of Representatives; LDP member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance; 14 terms)
  • Takeshi Iwaya (LDP member of the House of Representatives; Minister for Foreign Affairs; Minister of Defence; 12 terms)
  • Hakubun Shimomura (LDP member of the House of Representatives; Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; 10 terms)
  • Atsushi Ōshima (Centrist Reform Alliance member of the House of Representatives; former Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications; 10 terms)
  • Isshū Sugawara (LDP member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; 7 terms)
  • Kōnosuke Kokuba (LDP member of the House of Representatives; Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee; former Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; 6 terms)
  • Hidetoshi Ueda (LDP member of the House of Representatives; Parliamentary Secretary for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; 3 terms)
  • Kōichi Nakagawa (LDP member of the House of Representatives; 1 term)
  • Kōichirō Osada (LDP member of the House of Representatives; 1 term)

Current members of the House of Councillors

(Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times elected to the House of Councillors.)

  • Takumi Shibata (Nippon Ishin no Kai member of the House of Councillors; 3 terms)
  • Hajime Hirota (Independent member of the House of Councillors; former member of the House of Representatives; former Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defence; 4 terms)

Governors and local assembly members

Others

  • Hisayuki Miyake (political commentator)
  • Genta Itō (NHK announcer)
  • Takayuki Kasuya (Director of the News Division, Nippon Television Network)
  • Kōji Kawamura (TV Asahi commentator)
  • Muneo Funada (former Chief Commentator, Fuji Television)
  • Osamu Sorimachi (Chief Commentator, Fuji Television News Bureau; editor-in-chief of BS Fuji LIVE Prime News)
  • Akira Arai (former President of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
  • Yasuhirō Tase (political journalist)
  • Yoshimasa Miyazaki (political commentator)
  • Masato Ushio (military affairs commentator)
  • Norio Okazawa (political scientist)
  • Kazuo Kawasaki (criminal law scholar)
  • Shirō Ozaki (novelist)
  • Kōji Toyoda (novelist)
  • Takayuki Kamikura (entrepreneur; Representative Director and President of Imagineer Co., Ltd.)
  • Jun’ichi Ushiyama (documentary filmmaker, known for works such as The Wonderful World of Travel)
  • Yasunobu Fujiwara (former Waseda University professor; political scientist)
  • Takehiko Yamamoto (Waseda University professor; current chairman of the society)
  • Yōichi Kayashima (cram-school instructor; plaintiff in the Denshūkan trial)
  • Kiyoshi Yamada (President of Tokai University)
  • Hideo Matsue (Deloitte Tohmatsu Group)
  • Jitsuryoku seijika o haigyō suru "Sōdai Yūbenkai" no kenkyū (A Study of the Waseda Oratorical Society that Produces Capable Politicians) by Eiji Ōshita, PHP Institute, 1988. ISBN 978-4569221328
  • Nagatachō no "Miyako no Seihoku" – Shōsetsu Waseda Daigaku (The "Northwest of the Capital" in Nagatachō – A Novel of Waseda University), upper and lower volumes, by Eiji Ōshita, Kadokawa Bunko

Notes

  1. ↑ Waseda University Centennial History – Chronology, Shōwa 1–9
  2. 1 2 Waseda University Centennial History – Chronology, Shōwa 20–29
  3. ↑ During Takeshita's student years the Oratorical Society was inactive, so he was never formally a member. He is nonetheless regarded as an alumnus on the grounds that he "would certainly have joined had the society existed."
  4. ↑ "海部俊樹氏が死去、91歳　水玉ネクタイがトレードマーク、第76代首相". Nikkan Sports. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.